Markets Cap Off a Losing Week Down 160

Markets capped off a losing week by falling even further today. In the midst of the summer earnings season, most stocks are having a hard time, and the indexes just can't stop falling. In trading today, the Dow lost 163.39 points and closed out the trading day at 17,568.53. This is coming on the heels of last week, when the index finally poked its head above 18k for the first time this summer. The NASDAQ led the day in real losses, dropping 57.78 points to close at 5,088.63. The S&P 500 followed suit, losing 22.50 points and closing down to 2,079.65.

The company posted gains of 477.24 points and strengthened their guidance for the next quarter. Amazon was up nearly 10% and closed the day at $529.42. The earnings report was a bit of a surprise, since the consumer economy is continuing to slow down. People are spending less, and they're being more picky about exactly what they're spending it on.

Regardless of the fading consumer economy, everyone has apparently decided to do their online shopping at Amazon. The company consistently dominates in its niche, and has for almost 20 years at this point. They've built an online store into a powerhouse brand, in stark contrast to competitors like eBay (EBAY).

Amazon is capitalizing on its brand by expanding into other areas online, and they're using their Prime program as a wedge to do it. Their Amazon Prime program keeps growing, and bringing in new customers with it. Prime has grown from a way to get reduced shipping prices into a full-fledged video streaming service, grocery delivery, and loss-leader for premium price sales. And Amazon's customers are loving it -- as evidenced by their performance today.

For well over a year now, Biogen (BIIB) has been seen as the big name in biotech. In fact, most reports about the Health Services sector as a whole have at least touched on Biogen's performance in the biotech segment.

Today, Biogen imploded on poor earnings. They also revised their guidance going forward. And the shareholders left in droves. It's too soon to tell whether this is a legitimate reaction, with investors walking away from the biotech behemoth, or just a reaction to a selloff. Biogen lost 85.02 points, or just over 22%, to close the day at $300.03 per share.